A recent report from The Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) found that 30% of educators are currently leaving the sector annually due to workload intensity, with individual educators spending more than 20% of their time on paperwork and administration. Worryingly, this figure increases up to 100% with seniority.
To address this, Himal Randeniya founded LoveHeart, an AI-based teachers-aide that coaches educators to improve their practice and as a byproduct, create high quality documentation, in just a few minutes – not hours – per week.
Surveys have shown that 65% of educators more likely to stay in industry with the use of tools such as LoveHeart, and 83% of the program’s users have reported an improvement to their centre’s educational program.
The AI educator co-pilot uses an educator’s own observations to help understand a child's development. From a learning story to a detailed analysis of the child's learning in seconds, LoveHeart not only enhances educator capabilities but saves them 4.2 hours per week (on average).
Founder and CEO Himal Randeniya said that the company aims to dramatically improve educational outcomes for children and empower educators to deliver personalised, high-quality education.
"Research has shown us just how imperative early childhood education (ECE) is in shifting the trajectory of young people's lives. Yet we’re still faced with significant sector-wide challenges,” Himal said.
“Educational quality is diminishing due to high staff turnover, with thirty percent of educators leaving the sector annually – and regulatory red tape only exacerbates the issue.”
Himal said LoveHeart is unique in that it reduces the administrative burden on educators whilst simultaneously improving their capability and increasing the quality of education.
"Most educators and teachers spend over twenty percent of their time on paperwork which can increase with seniority,” Himal said.
“But documentation isn’t the reason people become teachers, and we want to help them spend more time rediscovering their love of teaching instead of the constant stress and never-ending catching up on paperwork.”
LoveHeart developed a custom AI called Sentinel to ensure that the product is used ethically by actively monitoring user behaviour. Sentinel effectively prevents the creation and distribution of fabricated or mass-produced documentation; a common way in which AI tools are being used today to ‘cheat’ the regulatory assessment process.
President of Childcare Alliance and LoveHeart subscriber Paul Mondo said that the aide helps educators empower their pedagogical knowledge. The team of early childhood educators at Mondo’s service trialled the LoveHeart platform for three months and found it to be a valuable tool.
“Our educators highlighted several key features that stood out to them,” Mondo said. “In particular, they enjoyed using the online coaching tool, which provided genuinely insightful ideas for planning engaging activities that align with their educational program and their observations of the children.”
Additionally, said Mondo, the educators who used the tool appreciated the translation feature which allowed them to quickly provide their observations of the children in the parents’ home language, making it easier to build stronger relationships and enhance communication with families.
"The vast majority of educators chose this field due to their passion for educating children, and would welcome a practical tool that streamlines their work when writing observations and developing educational programming,” he said.
“We found that LoveHeart greatly assists our educators to meet their documentation requirements, while building their professional knowledge and skillsets.”